Macedonian South Stream Agreement Drafted

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has said that an agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and Gazprom to ensure Macedonia's participation in the South Stream pipeline project has already been drafted.

In a statement released on Macedonia's government website, Prime Minister Gruevski said that an intergovernmental agreement was already being prepared with revisions due next month.

"Gazprom's CEO [Alexey Miller] and his associates told us they had prepared a draft-agreement on FYR Macedonia's inclusion into the South Stream project," he said. "In July, the draft-document will be submitted to the Russian government for revision, after which it will be handed over to us for signing."

Although Macedonia was not originally meant to participate the South Stream project, he said, governmental efforts had secured its inclusion in the European-wide pipeline.

"Initially, Macedonia was not planned to become part of the gas pipeline, but by making a lot of efforts we have managed to include Macedonia in the project. It is beneficial because it provides energy security and stability in Macedonia on the long run."

The statement follows a meeting between the Prime Minister and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, as well as a meeting between the PM and Gazprom on the same day. Following the meeting with Alexey Miller at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in Russia, Gazprom said in a statement that the results of a feasibility study of South Stream supply to Macedonia would be completed by the third quarter of this year.

Gazprom is the operator of the South Stream project and has already signed a number of intergovernmental agreements with participating countries through which the pipeline will run. These are Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia and Austria.